Maryland · Rabbit · 2026–27 Edition
Maryland Rabbit Season 2026–27: Dates & Bag Limits
01 — Seasons
| Season | Zone | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern Cottontail Rabbit | Statewide | Nov 7 – Feb 28 |
02 — Bag limits
| Daily | 4 |
|---|---|
| Possession | 8 |
| Snowshoe hare | No open season — closed statewide in Maryland |
03 — Shooting hours
Legal light on opening day (November 7, 2026) 06:11 — 17:29
Rule: One half hour before sunrise to one half hour after sunset — the daily small-game hours, matching COMAR 08.03.01.01's definition of 'daytime'. SUNDAYS DIFFER BY COUNTY: in most Sunday-hunting counties small game closes at 10:30 a.m. instead, while some counties run the same hours as Monday-Saturday. Check your county's Sunday chart. Sunrise/sunset shift daily — the times above are computed for opening day; use your local Maryland sun times for any other date.
04 — License
Rabbit hunters in Maryland need a Maryland hunting license.
Maryland hunting license cost →
Where to hunt public land in Maryland — WMAs by county & access rules →
05 — FAQ
When does rabbit season start in Maryland?
The 2026–27 opener is November 7, 2026. See the table above for the full window.
When does rabbit season end in Maryland?
The 2026–27 closing date is February 28, 2027.
Is there a closed season on rabbit in Maryland?
Yes — see the dates above. Outside that window, taking rabbit is closed in Maryland.
How many rabbits can you shoot in Maryland per day?
2026–27 bag limits: Daily — 4. Possession — 8. Snowshoe hare — No open season — closed statewide in Maryland. Limits are set per zone and per permit — check the agency's own regulations before you hunt.
What time can you start shooting rabbit in Maryland?
On opening day (November 7, 2026) legal light runs 06:11 to 17:29. The rule is: One half hour before sunrise to one half hour after sunset — the daily small-game hours, matching COMAR 08.03.01.01's definition of 'daytime'. SUNDAYS DIFFER BY COUNTY: in most Sunday-hunting counties small game closes at 10:30 a.m. instead, while some counties run the same hours as Monday-Saturday. Check your county's Sunday chart. Sunrise and sunset shift daily, so work the offset against your local Maryland sun times for any other date.
Can I hunt rabbits on my own land in Maryland without a license?
A Maryland resident landowner — plus their spouse, child, and child's spouse — doesn't need a license on land they hold title to; the same goes for a tenant and their family. Deer and turkey still need a free DNRid and Big Game Harvest Record, and nonresident owners generally don't qualify.
Verified · Maryland Department of Natural Resources · Last verified 2026-08-14
Publisher's note. Confirmed directly on the DNR's own allspecies.aspx page: 'The Delmarva fox squirrel and snowshoe hare may not be hunted in Maryland' — snowshoe hare is closed statewide, so this file covers eastern cottontail rabbit only, which remains open. The exact 2026-27 date range (Nov. 7, 2026 – Feb. 28, 2027) and the 4/day, 8-possession bag/possession limits could not be pulled from a readable DNR PDF this round (both the Hunting_Seasons_Calendar.pdf and Hunting-Seasons-Calendar.pdf on dnr.maryland.gov returned as unparseable binary streams to automated fetch), so those figures come from eRegulations.com's mirror of the same DNR hunting guide — treat the exact dates/numbers as secondary-sourced, though internally consistent across two independent search passes. Maryland has county-by-county Sunday small-game hunting rules confirmed via DNR/eRegulations: Allegany, Cecil, Garrett, St. Mary's, and Washington counties allow full weekday shooting hours on Sundays (private + designated public land); Calvert, Caroline, Charles, Dorchester, Queen Anne's, Talbot, and Somerset counties allow Sunday hunting only until 10:30 a.m. and only on private land (Somerset also permits leased public land). No rabbit-specific general shooting-hours rule beyond this county-by-county Sunday variation was found, so shootingHours is omitted here and the state's general half-hour-before/after rule (already on file, which already notes the Sunday county variation) applies as the fallback.